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Liverpool City Council
Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Liberal Democrats and is led by Warren Bradley. History Domain Liverpool has been a town since 1207, when it was granted its first charter by King John. It has had a town corporation (the Corporation of Liverpool) since before the 19th century, and was one of the corporations reformed by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835. The corporation created a police force in 1836. Liverpool was granted city status in 1880. When local government was reformed in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1889 it was one of the cities to become a county borough, and thus independent of Lancashire. This situation persisted until 1974 with the Local Government Act 1972, when due to urban expansion and the accretion of a large metropolitan area, the city was made a metropolitan district of the metropolitan county of Merseyside. This saw the old corporation nomenclature abolished and the council reconstituted as Liverpool City Council. In 1895 Wavertree, Walton and parts of Toxteth and West Derby were incorporated into the city with Fazakerley 1904 followed in 1913 by Gateacre and Speke 1932. In 1986 the council of Merseyside was abolished and its functions devolved to its districts, but the county still legally exists. It should be noted therefore that Liverpool has never been a district council under Lancashire County Council. Administration The City was run by the Liberal Party under Sir Trevor Jones. As part of their plans, a cost cutting exercise was drawn up, to reduce the councils costs by 25%. In 1979 the Conservative Party won a narrow victory in the General Election. Part of the Conservatives' plan was to impose a 25% cut on councils across the country. Liverpool City Council successfully negotiated an exception from this, on the grounds that they had already cut 25%. During the 1980s, the Militant movement, most famously Derek Hatton, gained control of several Labour councils including Liverpool, and challenged the national government on several issues. The leadership of the Labour Party was drawn into the controversy, culminating with Neil Kinnock's noted speech to Conference in 1985, denouncing Liverpool City Council without explicitly naming it. Hatton and Eric Heffer, local MP and councillor, staged a walk-out. In the 1990s the city gained further notoriety for having the country's highest council tax and officially the worst services. * 1998 The Liberal Democrats win control of Liverpool City Council. * 2003 Liverpool win the UK nomination of European Capital of Culture for 2008. * 2005 In December Mike Storey resigns after eight years, he was replaced as leader by Warren Bradley. Wards 2004 Political makeup Elections are usually by thirds, in three of every four years. 2004 saw new boundaries and so all seats were contested. The council has been under the Liberal Democrats' control since 1998. Prior to that it had alternated between Labour and No Overall Control since its reconstitution in 1974. Sites *Municipal Buildings, Liverpool Admin Centre. *Liverpool Town Hall Ceremonial HQ. *Calderstones House Recreation and Open Spaces Departments. External links *Liverpool City Council *Ward profile *Liverpool-evil-cabal blog by Council Insider